Udom Emmanuel: Mounting the saddle for good governance

BY JOSEPH OKON

It was Rosalynn Carter who said that “a leader takes  people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but where they ought to be”. 

Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government and Executive Governor-Elect, Akwa Ibom State, has shown that he is not just a leader, but a great leader that is committed and ready to take Akwa Ibom people from where they are today to where they ought to be, and this has endeared thousands of people in the state who have worked tirelessly and ensure his emergence at the polls.

With this inauguration, another milestone will be reached in the history of Akwa Ibom state as Udom G. Emmanuel formally takes the oath of office as the executive governor of Akwa Ibom State and Mr Moses Ekpo as deputy governor with the mind to sustain the transformation drive of the outgoing administration of Chief Godswill Akpabio, industrialization and unity of Akwa Ibom.

Udom Emmanuel, popularly called, “Mr Right” had formally answered the called by Akwa Ibom people to contest as the Governor of the state on the 21st October 2014 at the Unity Rally organized by Akwa Ibom Consolidation Alliance, ACA for him.

The unity rally was chaired by the former Military Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga who was the Director General of Udom/Moses 2015 campaigns which had the state Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio and wife, Ekaette Unoma, as the Special Guests of Honour, with other eminent sons and daughters of Akwa Ibom state in attendance.

It was on that occasion Mr Emmanuel presented his five-point agenda manifesto of “consolidation and human-focused development”. This manifesto has highlighted the major development goals of the incoming administration in five broad thematic areas of job creation, poverty alleviation, wealth creation, economic and political inclusion, and infrastructural consolidation and expansion. These generic themes have captured the past, the present, and the future development concern and aspirations of Akwa Ibom people.

ACA and Transformation Initiative, which are the platforms projecting Mr Emmanuel, as the best and most credible choice for the office of Governor is ready to give the incoming administration all the necessary support to fulfil its campaign promises, and they are very conscious of the high expectations of Akwa Ibom people to the new administration.

Throughout the governorship campaigns, Mr Udom Emmanuel engaged Akwa Ibom people in a lot of issues ranging from industrialization, innovative financing mechanism, entrepreneurship development revolution, agricultural promotion, skill acquisition, constant power supply, road network, marine transportation through Ibaka Deep Sea-Port, and world class schools/facilities. Others are; law and order, security of life and properties, investment friendly climate, youth/sport development, housing, participatory governance at all levels, women empowerment, and other overwhelming sectoral impacts. His humility and sincerity of purpose which presented him as a man with strong moral character and the best for the office of Governor scaled him through against all satanic political propaganda by the opposition. 

Obviously, Udom signifies a positive way forward for Akwa Ibom State as the epochal era of Chief Godswill Akpabio has come to an end today May 29, 2015. The long awaited next level of governance encapsulated in Udom’s aggressive industrialization and wealth creation blueprint will begins. Mr Udom Emmanuel is a man with pedigree and capacity to create jobs and generate employment for the unemployed. It has always been his desire to see that all able body youths in the state are gainfully employed which will reduce pressure on government house. 

Today, Udom Emmanuel stands as the architect of Akwa Ibom industrial road map, and the needed hand to transform Akwa Ibom state from the present civil service state to a highly industrialized state in Nigeria. As a man who have spent many years in the private sector working with captains of industries and Chief Executives/ CEO’s of companies, there is no doubt whatsoever that the Governor is committed to explore his wide business and investment connections around the world, couple with his experience to bear in the administration of Akwa Ibom state as the Executive Governor.

Based on his experience in corporate Nigeria with his professional capacity, it is believed that the incoming government of Mr Emmanuel will bring back the industrial era of late Dr Clement Isong. As a man who can see the invisible, he is ready and committed to do the impossible. These will be made possible through the industrial foundation that the outgoing administration Governor Akpabio has laid which he intend to build on.

Fate has brought Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel into the train of uncommon transformation in Akwa Ibom State as the Secretary to government that has Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio at the steering as the Executive Governor.
Any fair assessment would show that Emmanuel did come full into the service of Akwa Ibom people and had discharged the ministerial responsibilities of his office then as the Secretary to State Government with aplomb.

Evidence of his efficiency could be seen in the smooth running of the machinery of government which still operates at full throttle to deliver quality services to the good people of Akwa Ibom because of the good foundation he laid before leaving office as SSG.

More than this, the state Governor, Chief Akpabio, Mr. Emmanuel’s Principal, has only had words of praise and commendation for the former SSG in terms of his qualifications, capacity, and commitment to deliver to Akwa Ibom people the much needed industrialization.

So, if the Governor who hired him has been impressed with his conduct in office, and well-meaning citizens of the state do not have complaints about his service delivery, it stands to reason that in his stewardship to Akwa Ibom State as the Executive Governor, Deacon Emmanuel will truly faithful.
As a man of honour and integrity, he will do his work with dignity to help deliver the dividends of democracy in Akwa Ibom State which shall transform the state to an industrial hub of Africa.

Actually, these is to be expected from a man, so urbane and unobtrusive, who had come into the job after a meteoric rise in corporate Nigeria and had proven himself in corporate governance as well as financial services across West Africa and Europe.

It is noteworthy that Mr. Emmanuel will bring his Managerial and leadership experience to bear on the administration of the state as the Executive Governor which by all considerations will be very beneficial to all.

Before his appointment as Secretary to State Government, and his subsequent emergence as the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Emmanuel was an Executive Director in the Board of Zenith Bank Plc, Non-Executive Director, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Director Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS) Non-Executive Director, Zenith Bank in UK, among other appointments in the Bank where he served in key decision making positions for seventeen years.

Udom Emmanuel is a member of many Professional bodies which includes Fellow of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FAC) Fellow of Institute of Financial Management since 2005, and Associate of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (ACIT).

Apart from his work experience, Mr. Emmanuel had exhibited leadership qualities early in life. He was the Senior Prefect in Community Secondary School, Ikot AkpanIshiet. He attended School of Arts and Science Uyo before he proceeded to the University of Lagos where he graduated in Accounting. He proceeded from there to Leeds Metropolitan University UK for Masters of Science Degree in Corporate Governance.

All said, Mr Udom Emmanuel did bring to the office as the Secretary to State Government, his good nature, wide experience and unwavering commitment to serve his homeland to play with excellent result.

With the historic inauguration of Mr Udom Emmanuel today as the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom state, it is believed that a new dawn of development and industrialization has come for the people of this state as he takes the people of Akwa Abasi Ibom to their industrial destination they ought to be. God Bless this state. Hearty congratulations to Mr Udom Emmanuel and Mr Moses Ekpo on their epoch inauguration.